


Normalcy

by twtd



Series: Détente [3]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-13
Updated: 2009-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-02 14:17:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twtd/pseuds/twtd





	Normalcy

"May I?" She hesitated slightly before entering the partially lit office and closing the door behind her. CJ barely glanced from the pile of papers on her desk. Kate knew that it was a bad time, knew that being ignored was the best response that she could expect, but after last night, after today...

She took a seat on CJ's couch hoping to wait her out. Five minutes passed, then ten. CJ looked up and briefly made eye contact with her before her gaze became unfocused. Kate continued to wait for acknowledgment, and when CJ's attention finally returned to her she was surprised by what she saw there. She wasn't sure what she did expect, hurt or confusion or anger, but the brazen lust in CJ's eyes made her stomach flutter slightly and her breath catch. She knew that this was neither CJ's typical reaction to a crisis nor her normal approach to sex, but part of her wished that it were.

"I hope you're finished for the day." Though CJ's tone remained professional, her vaguely affected smile betrayed her knowledge of the answer.

"Yeah," Kate answered hesitantly, "as long as nothing flares up in the next couple of minutes." She let her unvoiced questions hang in the air between them.

"Good. You should go get your things. You'll ride home with me." Kate's questions disappeared, replaced by disbelief and irritation.

"And what am I going to tell the guy from the Post a week from now when he asks what I was doing at your house at 12:42 in the morning?" Tonight wasn't the time to antagonize her lover, but CJ was never this reckless, never this unthinking. Despite the circumstances, Kate wasn't about to let this power dynamic bleed into their personal lives. She had every intention of spending the night with CJ, but she wasn't going to be ordered there.

Kate watched CJ stand, and, despite the slightly awkward impression the woman's height generally inspired, she appeared firmly rooted in the earth. "You are going to tell him that you were briefing me on something that is absolutely none of his damn business." CJ shoved a binder into her briefcase to punctuate her reply.

Kate wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort her lover, to pull CJ into her arms and make her demons go away. But she was used to fighting physical demons, and she wasn't quite sure how to fight the spectral ones. She didn't know how to battle CJ's inability to stop thinking or how to replace the part of CJ that Toby took when he left. But Kate knew that CJ wasn't thinking as clearly as normal and she could not, she would not, let CJ, with her sudden penchant for risky behavior, use their relationship to commit political suicide. She wouldn't let CJ sacrifice their relationship to her grief either.

"CJ," Kate paused as the other woman looked up sharply. "You know that I can't let you do this."

CJ walked around her desk and turned to Kate as she rested her and on the doorknob. "Let me?" Kate flinched as CJ's eyes hardened. The office door opened and closed quietly, and she was left staring at it as CJ's footsteps echoed down the hallway.


End file.
